The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #97781   Message #1928975
Posted By: Captain Ginger
07-Jan-07 - 05:38 AM
Thread Name: BS: Proofreading tricks
Subject: RE: BS: Proofreading tricks
Interesting, the idea that some passages have to be read aloud to 'settle' the punctuation.
Conversely, however, you have the peerless Molly Bloom's soliloquy, with just three full stops (periods) in the whole screed, and it cries aloud to be read aloud; the voice careering along in breathless abandon and choosing its own rests free from the straitjacket of punctuation.
The last few lines, ending in the sleepy 'yes' and the last full stop are, to me, among the most moving and life-affirming words ever written. Anyone inserting so much as a single comma into such a passage would deservedly be lynched!